Howdy All...I havent been on the forums much today as there were things at work that needed to get done.
@BeMindful - I am truly sorry for the loss of your friend. It is truly a terrible situation and I dont think that anything anyone says here can make you feel better. At least, if possible try to take solace in the fact that your friend doesnt have to deal with any of the bad things that this world can throw at you, and that he/she is in a much better place now. I hope that you feel better. A wise master splinter once said "The path from inner turmoil begins with an open ear." And...pound meph for a while to easy your spirit.
@Rizzo - Glad to hear your gonna start some martial arts. Suggestions for you....well that really depends on your personality. As I only know you through this forum I cannot necessarily make a good suggestion. From what I have seen of you here Tai Chi and Akido would be good for you because they are more spiritual / sensitive martial arts :lol: . Im sure HolyPade would chuckle if he read that...hehe. While I dont think I can give you straight suggestions I can give you some back ground on martial arts that I or friends have dabbled in and it might be able to aid you in YOUR choice:
1. Muay Thai - Extremely agressive and fast paced, requires lots of endurace and conditioning. Requires a certain amount of fight/will to get into this martial arts as you will access some primal parts of your psyche when doing it.
Very simple but very practical moves that are easy to pick up over time. If you do this you consistently you WILL lose weight.

Speaking from experience on this one. Learning a lil Muay Thai will go a long way towards making you a better fighter.
2. Kung Fu - Extremely technical martial art. This will build your flexibility, speed, and precision. It will take a LONG time before you get better at fighting with this one as it is much slower paced and potentially less practical in some cirumstances. It has a spiritual touch, more discipline/focus on the mental aspects of the martial arts. It was also the basis of all martial arts, so much credit here.
3. Judo - Ask HolyPade...hehehe. Judo is a great pratical martial art that is well rounded and will build up several different characteristics. Much slower paced than many other martial arts as grappling can become like a chess game. Being big/strong here will pay off big time while being small will not necessarily hurt you here either. Very similar in respects to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu..the only difference is that BJJ does alot less throws and alot more unconventional locks/submission holds.
4. Akido - Largely defensive martial art aimed at controlling your opponents. Passive in its stance on fighting and will take a fair amount of effort to really become effective. Likes to use the opponents mistakes against them in order to control not necessarily win a fight.
5. Karate/Tae Kwon Do - Great for beginners but not necessarily as beneficial as some of the other martial arts I have talked about. Karate (generally) is largely defensive in my opinion as well and Tae Kwon Do focuses on kicks.
6. Mixed Martial Arts - Now defined as a martial art itself MMA is the wave of the future and will touch on all parts of the martial arts.
7. Weapon fighting, extreme precision here, very technical and slow paced as messing with weapons is dangerous. Fun to learn how to weild all kinds of figting tools though.
8. Jeet Kune Do - Bruce Lees martial art. Extremely aggressive here. Large focus on practicality, and precision. This martial art will teach you how to think outside the box associated with fighting to bring down your opponents quickly and effectively with every movement you make. Totally badass!
For the record I do Muay Thai, BJJ, and Jeet Kune Do.
Best to begin with well....anything that matches your personality.
Hope this helps. Let me know if your interested in learning more about any one in particular. I just spit out some general info off the top of my head.
-roninDOG